MBK Language Center

Awesome instruction! Great teachers who make the classes engaging and interesting. My little one likes Ms. Savitha’s class and has learnt a lot!

MBK Adult Learning Review
Being Indian — I’m quite insecure about being unable to speak/​understand Hindi, especially as an adult. 1 month ago, I decided to tackle my insecurity & reach out to MBK. Madhu was very quick to respond to my inquiries & was very transparent. She’s taught classes since 1987 with great results for all ages.
I am currently taking a 10-​week course with another beginner, who is non-​Indian.
LESSONS:
Madhu gets to know your current experience level & what your hindi goals are (conversational, business-​related, etc.) and caters the lessons to what will benefit you most. She’s always professional, makes sure you’re comfortable with the pace of the lesson, respectfully corrects you & is encouraging. These are traits that I look for in a great teacher.
OUTCOME:
Being 1 month into lessons, I feel confident & surprised at the amount of Hindi I’ve learned so far & the sentences I can slowly build on my own.
I feel this is a wonderful start to my Hindi journey, therefore, I would definitely recommend MBK for Adult learners!

Very good program. Knowledgeable teachers make learning Hindi fun.

MBK is the best Hindi Program in the Bay Area. There is no other school in the USA or the Bay Area that even touches her engaging curriculum. She is even offering courses for High School credit. She is a pioneer in the world of Hindi teaching to children. The curriculum is fun, engaging and filled with true learning, no fluff.
My son has been going to classes for four years and my daughter one year. My son has learned how to read and write and my daughter is beginning to read and write. He speaks Hindi fluently since we speak it at home, no English. MBK’s program compliments his Hindi learning very well. My son was in another Hindi Program but we found that they did not have the trajectory and true teaching that MBK has. The other program was too superficial. We are so happy to have MBK and you will not find a deeper curriculum anywhere. The teachers are nurturing, caring but also are professionally trained teachers and know how to teach and handle a classroom. We love all our teachers so far.
MBK is the best choice if you want your child to really learn Hindi with full supports (songs, games, books, creative instruction and fun). There is homework and it may be learning a song, poem, practice writing, etc. You can spend 10 minutes every other day or so and you will get the most out of the classes.

I’ve been a Hindi student for 3 years and I’ve had a great time learning with all my friends. I get college credits for this, so it’s great. It requires a lot of work, and you should probably have at least one parent who speaks Hindi. It’s a challenging course, but in the end you are able to speak fluent Hindi. All my teachers have been very helpful and they take time off of their everyday schedule to talk to us about grades, homework assignments, and grammar rules that we are unsure of. Because the ratio from students to teachers are much less than at a regular school, it provides a better learning experience and you have the opportunity to be close to our teachers.
This is the review that I gave as an assignment^. And now here’s my honest opinion.
I’m finally out of this frustrating program, I’m done! This program has been a headache for the last three years, and I feel if a high schooler wants to look at their Hindi options, this is the best program you’ll find in the Bay Area for credits. But there are some disadvantages that you must know before you enroll.
First, the positives. There is no denying that you learn a lot throughout the class. I can definitely speak at least 50 times better than I could three years ago. The teachers are really supportive (Some more than others), and they know their grammar. We get to experience Indian food, movies, celebrate holidays, and go on fun fieldtrips. You get extremely close to your whole class and it becomes a little extra family. The culture is a lot of fun. You read up to 25 books in a year, and your vocabulary definitely increases tremendously. There are a lot of opportunities for extra credit as well.
As I mentioned before, this class can be extremely irritating. So, here’s why. Our classes are for 2 hours twice a week to meet the state and UC requirements and whatnot. That’s fine, but it’s on Wednesdays and one day on the weekend. Wednesdays become extremely long school days and it’s hard to focus by the end of class. Having class on Sundays (for my class) is a headache because our whole weekend is wasted on Hindi Homework and worrying about missing the class. The reason why missing a class sucks is because not only do you miss participation points, but you miss attendance points. Madhu Aunty (The Principal of the MBK program and the Hindi 3 teacher for the ’11-’12 school year) literally CUTS points for not being able to come. There is no policy or exceptions for sports games or being sick. It’s unreasonable and it can really cause your grade to drop. This basically is a huge restriction on any extra curricular activities that you wanted to join. Another huge flaw in this program is the religion. The program is centered around Hinduism. We celebrate auspicious Hindu Holidays such as Diwaali and Holi, which are fun, but not everyone in the program is Hindu and Hinduism isn’t the only religion practiced in India. We have to read stories from the Mahabharat and the Ramayan and we get tested on these stories as if we were supposed to know them before we stepped foot into the classroom. The teachers change the schedules to fit their own needs. More than once, we’ve had to reschedule classes that the students have already set in their schedules. I’ve personally had to change other programs and be late to other events because my teachers had doctor appointments or a wedding or they wanted to go to a seminar. Not only do they change the class times to fit their needs, they act like the students don’t have lives of their own either. Our projects can take upto 20 – 40 hours and depending on the teacher you have, you might have a full year project, or multiple. Going back to having attendance points cut, if we have to leave early, come late or just get sick, our GRADES get impacted! Why is that fair? On top of all of this, the teachers ask us to advertise the program. We are asked to handout fliers, write reviews (for grades) and help with the end of the year program for the elementary kids. The teachers don’t communicate well, so the end of the year program turned into a disaster because everyone had different opinions and there was no set design for any of it.
This program is one of the best that you’ll find, but you have to know both the advantages and disadvantages of taking this class for College Credits. I know this was long, but if you bared with me, thanks for listening!

MBK is one of the most dynamic, creative, collaborative education companies in the Bay Area I’ve ever seen. (Full Transparency: I am the daughter of the founder, but I also study educational theories and modern pedagogies and am reviewing from as unbiased of a perspective as possible!) Mom is an incredible teacher, ridiculously passionate, and honestly loves being in the classroom with her kids. I can’t imagine a better person or place to have a child learning a language.